Greater Manchester’s financial and professional services sector has the potential to generate nearly 70,000 new jobs by 2020, a fresh report claims.

Greater Manchester’s financial and professional services sector has the potential to generate nearly 70,000 new jobs by 2020, a fresh report claims.

But work needs to be done to match the skills of the local population with the opportunities being created and to continue to make the city region an attractive place for firms to relocate to.

Think tank New Economy has produced a paper to evaluate the importance of the sector, saying it is ‘projected to lead the economic recovery in Greater Manchester’.

The report states more people are employed in financial and professional services in the city region than in any other outside London. It says around 250,000 people, employed by 26,000 different companies, work in the sector, which accounts for 21.9 per cent of all employment in the city region.

Together, they contribute around ££9bn to the Greater Manchester economy each year.

Employment growth forecasts have been produced for the report, which suggest 66,500 additional people could be working in the sector in Greater Manchester by 2020, a rise of 40 per cent.

It is predicted 43 per cent of those will be based within the Manchester local authority boundaries.

The report identifies four issues that will be key to ensuring the sector’s growth potential is maximized:

- Making sure people living in Greater Manchester develop the skills needed to compete for the jobs created. That includes launching apprenticeship schemes for ‘entry level positions’ that give people of all ages the chance to find a way into the sector and develop into more senior roles.

- Develop stronger links between the sector and the region’s universities, so that high level graduate talent is generated and retained in the city region.

- Improve transport links between Manchester city centre and the wider catchment area the sector draws from.

- Continue to market Greater Manchester as a good place for financial and professional services firms to base their headquarters.

The report states there are 26,270 firms making up the financial and professional services sector in Greater Manchester, of which 89.1 per cent are ‘micro businesses’, with between one and 10 employees. Firms classed as ‘large businesses’, with 200 or more workers account for just 0.2 per cent of the sector but employ more than a quarter – 25.9 per cent – of all those working in it.

Of all those working in financial and professional services, 31,000 are at legal or accounting firms, 23,400 at management consultancies and 21,000 in financial services companies.

The sector accounts for 51.7 per cent of all employment within Manchester city centre. The report says other key clusters of financial and professional firms are found in Bolton, Bury, Trafford Park and near to Manchester Airport.

Baron Frankal, director of economic strategy at New Economy said: “It is crucial that we continue to support the financial and professional sector in Manchester, by increasing access to training opportunities and establishing more links between businesses and Greater Manchester’s education institutes.

“Improvements should also continue across Greater Manchester’s infrastructure so that we can sustain the anticipated growth.”

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